Jackson

by Hazel Hunter

  The barn owl uttered his hissing screech as he dove down and bit the nose of one of the men before flapping over to rake another with his talons.

  Audrey used the diversion to climb higher and then stepped out until she was directly over the sidewalk outside the wall. With a deep breath she jumped.

  Strong arms caught her, and she gasped as Norm set her on her feet.

  “Oh, my God, Norm. What are you doing here?”

  “My real job.” He took out a gun and pointed it at her chest. In a louder voice he said, “I have her, my lord.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  ON HIS WAY to the south end Jackson called in to Command to make a report, but before he could relate any details of the latest developments in the case the duty officer delivered some grim news.

  “The High Priestess of the Seattle coven has been murdered,” Command told him. “One of her coven found her remains. She was killed in the same manner the humans in the south end were before they were burned.”

  Jackson thought of Mariah’s beautiful face under her crone facade and set his jaw.

  “Were there any witnesses?”

  “One of the neighboring shopkeepers saw a limousine park outside the shop around the time of the murder.” Command’s voice turned flinty. “We ran the plate, and the car is registered to Hannah Gardener. If she murdered the Priestess–”

  “She’s the killer.” Jackson made a U-turn to head over to the estate.

  “The shopkeeper reported something else.” Command told him about the men who had dragged Hannah’s driver out of the car and replaced him. “Our soul scryer detected a large disturbance in the city an hour ago. She believes at least a dozen more humans were murdered.”

  Jackson heard the beep for a new voice mail. “I’m going to Hannah Gardener’s estate now. I’ll report what I find after I arrive.” He ended the call and accessed his voice mail box, and felt the scald of fear as he listened to Audrey’s message. Slamming his foot down on the accelerator Jackson wove in and out of traffic, but when he got within a block of the estate he slowed and parked the truck before continuing on foot.

  The smell of spent gunpowder and death greeted him as he approached the front gates, where a lone guard stood smoking. Jackson drew on his power and directed it at the cigarette in the man’s hand, making it flare into a ball of flame. As the man flung the fiery butt away and batted at his singed eyebrows Jackson plowed his fist into his jaw. The guard toppled, and he dragged the unconscious body out of sight to strip it and dress in the man’s clothes. He then went into the guard shack and opened the gates.

  Keeping an unhurried pace, Jackson walked up to the guarded main house and went inside, where he immediately breathed in a trace of Audrey’s scent. The hair on the back of his neck rose as he also felt the lingering trace left behind by a Templar immortal, and followed both up the staircase to the second floor.

  The only thing that gave him pause was seeing Audrey’s EMT partner, Norman Palmer, walk out of one of the bedrooms. The other man saw him at the same time and came to an abrupt halt.

  “Now I understand why she was lusting after you,” Norm drawled as he pulled a gun and pointed it at Jackson’s heart. “You’re both heathen scum.”

  Jackson stood impassively as the human fired his entire clip into his chest. His power enveloped him like a cloak, stopping and melting the bullets before they came within an inch of his flesh.

  “Where is she?”

  “Please,” Hannah Gardener screamed from inside the bedroom. “Help me.”

  “Maybe in there,” Norm told him, and dropped the useless weapon as he backed away. “You should go check.”

  Fire flew out of the bedroom and swirled around Jackson as he summoned it, and formed it into a cluster of compact, white-hot balls. He flicked his wrist to send two of the fiery orbs at Norm, but at the last minute redirected them so they only glanced off the sides of his head.

  “Tell me what you’ve done with Audrey,” Jackson said as he advanced on the other man, “or I will melt your face off.”

  “She’s gone with my master,” Norm said, and smiled broadly as he removed a dagger from his belt. “He’s going to turn that little bitch into a proper Templar servant. Once he fucks her, she’ll be ours for all eternity.”

  Jackson’s temper spiked, and the orbs grew larger. “Where did he take her?”

  The medic glanced back at the wall burning behind him before he smiled at Jackson. “Thanks. That will save me some work.”

  Jackson easily dodged the dagger Norm threw at him, but it gave the human time to flee to the back stairs and vanish. Hannah’s screams grew louder, and with a curse Jackson extinguished the orbs and entered the bedroom to see Audrey’s godmother surrounded by flames consuming her bed.

  “Please,” she begged, and shrieked as the fire licked at her feet. “Don’t let me die like this.”

  Jackson lifted his hands and drew the flames to him, absorbing them until charred linens and scorched walls were all that was left.

  “Thank you,” Hannah said, and coughed before she gave him a pleading look. “Please, would you untie me? I have to see what he did to my nose, and then–“

  “Where did the Templar take Audrey?” he demanded.

  “To some sanctuary,” she snapped. “I don’t know where it is. Release me.”

  Jackson left her there and returned to the gate house, where he shook the guard he had knocked out until the human regained consciousness.

  “Where is your master’s sanctuary?”

  “Go to hell,” the guard said, and then his eyes widened as Jackson summoned a ball of fire to hover over his hand. “It’s outside the city.” He told him the address, and then added, “You’ll never get in there.”

  Jackson drove his fist into the man’s jaw again and dropped his limp form before running for his truck.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  AUDREY DIDN’T TRY to resist or run as the Templar helped her out of the car and took her arm. She used the time to quickly study her surroundings, which were luxurious, and the potential avenues of escape, which appeared to be zero.

  “It’s quite secure here, my child,” Marquette told her as he marched her into the house. “If you do try to escape, my men have orders to shoot to you.”

  “Wouldn’t that be like cutting open the golden goose?” Audrey couldn’t help asking. “Kill me, and there’s no more potion, right?”

  “They won’t shoot to kill. They’ll simply shatter your kneecaps.” He took her into what appeared to be a well-stocked personal library and gestured at a pair of empty chairs by the fireplace. “We have a great deal to discuss. Please, take a seat.”

  Audrey perched on one of the chairs and watched Marquette remove his cloak.

  “How did you get my godmother involved in this mess?”

  He gave her a surprised look. “I didn’t. She contacted me and offered the treatment. Since nothing can harm me, I tried it, and found the first ease I’ve had since that Irish witch cursed me.” He walked over and offered her the white feather he had picked up in the garden. “The Almighty sent this to me as a sign, but I refused to see at first. After dealing with Hannah I should have known you were as special and innocent as He did.”

  Audrey took the feather and tucked it in her pocket. “Aunt Hannah didn’t kill those people.”

  “Did you never wonder why your godmother. who is now in her fifties, looks younger than you?” He walked over to a cart and poured two glasses of an amber liquor, and brought them over to the fireplace. “She has been using a transference spell to steal the youth and life from helpless humans, mostly children.” He offered her one of the glasses. “After she’s finished draining them she burns their homes, probably to destroy the charms and disguise the ashen remains.”

  Audrey took the glass and drank a big gulp of the bourbon, swallowing hard against the burn in her throat.

  “She wouldn’t do anything so horrible.”

  “Your loyalty, while ad
mirable, is wasted on Hannah Gardener––and I would much rather talk about you.” He sat down and regarded her steadily. “You’re a powerful healer, Audrey. You’ve had to have used your gift to help the sick and injured you transport. Without even knowing it, you’ve done the same for me.”

  “Am I supposed to feel obligated?” she countered. “Because if I had known what Aunt Hannah was doing, I would have stopped her.”

  “Would you have?” He leaned forward, his expression tight, and told her about the day he had been cursed. “Can you even imagine what it is like to face ceaseless, agonizing pain every moment you draw breath? To be a warrior trapped inside a crippled, useless body?”

  Audrey set aside her glass. “Probably as bad as a pregnant woman being stabbed to death by a maniac with a sword.”

  “The witch’s suffering lasted only a few minutes.” He drained his glass. “My sentence is eternity.”

  He felt no remorse or responsibility.

  “So you’re going to keep me here and make me keep healing you,” Audrey said. “There’s only one problem with that. Unlike you, I’m not immortal.”

  “Not yet.” He rose and went to stand by the mantle, and stared down into the flames. “But I will bestow eternal life on you in exchange for your loyal service to me.”

  “There’s only one way to…oh, no. No, I’m sorry.” She picked up the glass and chugged down the rest of the bourbon. “You can’t do that anyway. You guys are like priests, right?”

  He gave her a slight smile. “You believe a vow of celibacy I made as a human would stop me? Think again.”

  He didn’t have a conscience, and his faith was one of convenience, Audrey thought. She’d have to go for the big bluff.

  “My ability goes both ways, Marquette. I am a powerful healer, but I can also kill with a touch.”

  “Even if that were true, you cannot defeat the curse,” he told her. “The witch insured I would suffer forever by making me inviolate. Nothing can kill me.”

  “But you wish I could,” she said softly. “Don’t you?”

  “Wishing for the one thing you can never have is as foolish as refusing a gift of it.” He came to crouch in front of her, holding onto the chair’s arms to trap her in place. “Think of the work we can do together, Audrey. With you at my side I can be restored to my former glory. Together we can save countless human lives. With my guidance you can abandon the heretical ways of the pagan, and become the devoted servant of the One and True God that you were meant to be.”

  He believed everything he was saying, too; Audrey could see that in his eyes.

  “I already save lives every day, Henri. My faith and what I do with it is up to me, not you. And while I’m sorry about what’s happened to you, I won’t be your first aid kit anymore.”

  He glowered at her. “Don’t you patronize me, Witch.”

  “I’m not.” She looked down at his fingers, which were digging into the upholstery. “I pity you. You’re trying to cheat a fate you brought on yourself with your own hatred and brutality. You can’t keep running from what you did, or using me to hold it off. Eventually you have to face what you’ve done.”

  Marquette dragged her out of the chair and hauled her out of the study and down a long corridor.

  “I did not want it to be this way,” he told her through his gritted teeth, “but you leave me no choice.”

  Audrey couldn’t free herself from his grip, and when he pushed her into a room she was hurtled across it and slammed into a stone wall. The room was hardly furnished, and aside from a long bed, a set of drawers, a small desk and a wooden cross over the door, held nothing but musty air.

  The Templar dragged her to her feet and shoved her onto the bed. “Take off your clothes.”

  She sat up. “You’re going to make me immortal by raping me? How well do you think that’s going to turn out?”

  “I don’t have time to seduce you.” He began unbuttoning his shirt, exposing his muscular barrel chest. “The violation will be brief. All I must do is spill my seed inside you, and it will be done. I will never touch you again.”

  “Wham, bam, live forever, ma’am?” Audrey spotted something and pretended to stagger to her feet as she unfastened the waistband of her trousers. “You’re a sick bastard.”

  “I was,” he agreed as he jerked off his shirt. “But now I will have you to make me well again. Always and forever.”

  Audrey moved back another inch, and then grabbed the letter opener from the desk and aimed it at a space between her ribs.

  “If you try to touch me, I’ll use this. I also know exactly where to put the blade so that it instantly stops my heart. There is no way you can get me to a doctor or a hospital in time to save me. Then it’s bye-bye goose, no more gold.”

  Marquette stopped undressing and took a step toward her.

  “I’m not afraid to die,” she advised him gently. “Because I know where I’m going, and you know what? It’s a lot better than here.”

  Someone hammered on the door, and a frantic voice shouted, “My lord, we are under attack.”

  Marquette pulled on his shirt and went to the door. “Keep her secured,” he told the guard. “No one comes into this room but me.”

  As soon as the door slammed and was locked from the outside Audrey collapsed onto the bed. Outside the walls she could hear gunfire and muffled shouts, and the crash of something heavy and metallic. What gave her hope was the smell of smoke that drifted under the door and into the room. It meant either Jackson had come after her, or the killer had––and either one would insure that Marquette never touched her again.

  A heavy thud directly outside the door made her jump to her feet, but when it opened Norman Palmer walked inside and grabbed her by the arm.

  “Come on,” he said roughly as he forced her out into the hallway, where he stepped over the unconscious guard. “We’re leaving.” When Audrey resisted, he bent down and put his shoulder to her belly to lift her like a fireman. “I’m trying to save your life, you stupid bitch.”

  She kicked him with her legs. “Why would you care what happens to me?”

  “Get out of my way,” Norm said, and pushed at someone.

  He then went still and dropped to his knees. When Audrey wrestled free of his limp arms he stared up at her in shock as his hair turned pure silver and wrinkles spread across his face. She spotted a small bundle of fur sticking out of his shirt pocket and reached for it.

  “Please don’t touch that, dearest.”

  Audrey heard a hammer cock and turned around slowly to see the unsteady form of her bloodied, blackened godmother pointing a gun at her. She felt energy rushing past her, and saw Hannah’s bruises and burns begin to fade.

  As Hannah’s broken nose straightened she smiled brightly at Audrey. “I’m so glad I found you, darling.” She breathed in deeply. “Ah, that’s better. Why don’t we see if we can find a way out through the back?”

  Audrey saw Norm’s body disintegrate at her feet. “What have you done, Hannah?”

  “Oh, please. That man would have used you like a whore. Just like all men do.” Hannah seized Audrey’s long hair and yanked it until Audrey walked along with her. “Besides, you owe me for what Justine did to me. It’s about time you learned the truth.”

  As Hannah told her what had happened when Justine Mather had found her with the body of the boy she had sacrificed to work her vengeance spell against her former lover, Audrey felt tears of pain and horror spring into her eyes. Her mother had died trying to stop Hannah from harming a human.

  “I told her he had to pay for what he did to me, but she didn’t understand,” Hannah insisted as she kicked open the door leading out of the building. “She was always like that, running around trying to save them. Just like you.”

  “You didn’t have to kill her,” Audrey protested.

  “I didn’t plan to, but when two witches battle things can quickly get out of hand.” She pulled so hard on Audrey’s hair she could feel chunks of it beginnin
g to separate from her scalp. “I killed your mother by accident, but I know she took my immortality on purpose. She knew what that would do to me. So did Mariah. She could have found a way to restore me, but she never would. I had to find a solution on my own.”

  “You should go to Mariah,” Audrey said as her godmother dragged her behind some large straw-filled archery targets. “I know she would help you if she knew.”

  “Unfortunately I killed Mariah this morning. Sucked all the life right out of the old bat. She was actually kind of delicious.” Hannah gave her a mad smile as she took out a small bundle of fur. “Now who do you think I should taste next?”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  WHEN HE REACHED the gates to the sanctuary Jackson drove his truck into them, forcing the guards posted inside and out to dive out of the way. The truck burst through with a horrific crash, and as it hurtled toward the house Jackson opened the door and jumped out before he flung a bolt of power at the gas tank.

  The enormous, violent explosion lifted the truck six feet off the ground before enveloping it in a fiery black cloud of smoke and flames. The force of the blast knocked out or disabled every man within a fifty foot radius, which cleared a path to the house for Jackson.

  He sprinted for the front entry, using his power to shield himself from behind and each side as the Templar’s guards began firing at him. Three more emerged from the house, but with another volley he melted their weapons out of their hands and left them on their knees and howling with the pain of their contact burns as he entered the enemy’s lair.

  All he could think of was Audrey, which allowed him to pick up the scent of her and follow it through the structure. Each time he turned a corner he saw men running, but they were racing outside and paid no attention to him.

  By the time he found the room where Audrey had been he could feel another power, and stopped to kneel at the pile of dust in the hall. When he saw a small, half-melted EMT pin his heart skipped a beat, but the moment his fingers touched the ash he knew the remains weren’t Audrey’s. He spotted footsteps outlined by ash and followed them down the hallway and out into the back of the house, where the property had been cleared and used as a training area.